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Message from the Dean

130 Years, Millions of Lives

The complex global challenges of our age have yielded developments in genetics, biology, communications, and the environment, which in turn have opened countless avenues for research, practice and new partnerships. We’re undergoing a revolution in our understanding of areas as diverse as molecular epidemiology, nanotechnology, health care quality, the dynamics of health behavior, public health genomics, and the interrelationship of ethnicity, culture, and health.

At the University of Michigan School of Public Health, these developments are a part of everyday life. For more than a century, this university has been a leader in public health scholarship, teaching, and service, and that legacy continues today. Through work on vaccines, health policy and administration, statistical genetics, chronic disease, socioeconomic disparities, global health, environmental science, and an array of other issues, the UM SPH community has saved millions of lives. It is a profound honor and a joy to be part of such a tradition.

Today’s public health issues are indeed complex, and they require collaboration across campus, with community and academic partners around the world, and with both public and private decision-makers. We have much to learn about what makes us susceptible to many diseases, what we can do to promote good health and well being, and how to manage the long-term consequences of ill health.

Immense challenges remain, but our capacity for the work and our passion for making the world a healthier place are equally immense. Please join us. Together, we are creating solutions and policies to address the public health problems of our time. We are working on difficult issues, developing and sharing solutions to common dilemmas, and implementing common-sense, sustainable interventions here and abroad. We are finding new and creative ways to bring scholarly discovery to actual public health practice in the field, and we are improving the health and well-being of citizens in Michigan, the Great Lakes region, nationally and globally.

Our future depends on it.

Martin Philbert
Dean, UM School of Public Health

Catch the Dean in this 2011 webcast:

• Nanotechnology Unplugged: No PowerPoint, no script; just stimulating conversation

Martin Philbert, Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health

From the Dean, in Findings magazine

• Stress, Big and Little, fall/winter 2011

Excerpt: The stress of my daily commute is quite trivial compared to the basal level of stress from which many suffer—not knowing where the next meal is coming from, not having access to healthy foods or good schools, to a clean environment or basic health care. And then there are the acute stressors, such as the loss of a loved one, that can lead to psychic and emotional displacement from which some of us have a tough time finding our way back. This kind of stress pays no attention to race, socioeconomic status, educational background, or place of birth. Big or little, trivial or traumatic, stress is a factor in many of the most challenging public health problems confronting us today... Read rest of article >

• The Acid Test, spring/summer 2011